


Fox in a Henhouse

by Howling_Harpy



Series: Eyes of the beholder [6]
Category: Band of Brothers (TV 2001)
Genre: Closeted Character, Friendship, Gen, Implied Relationships, Misunderstandings, Pre-Slash, Protectiveness, Straight Allies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 21:34:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29267307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Howling_Harpy/pseuds/Howling_Harpy
Summary: The new C.O. ruffles some feathers in Easy company.
Relationships: Bill Guarnere & Babe Heffron, Carwood Lipton & George Luz, Lewis Nixon & Harry Welsh & Richard Winters
Series: Eyes of the beholder [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1890967
Kudos: 22





	Fox in a Henhouse

Contrary to popular belief, Ron Speirs had excellent social skills. He wasn’t exactly what you’d call friendly, but he was quick to figure other people out and often used this to his advantage, and this was exactly what worried certain soldiers of Easy when he took command.

Sure, he was competent and they were glad to have him – professionally speaking, at least. But as soon as he took command, he started evaluating his new subordinates with sharp, all-seeing eyes, and the experience was unnerving to say the least. There was no telling what he might do.

Harry just couldn’t make up his mind about Speirs. He didn’t dislike him, he didn’t like him, and nothing in between fit either, solely because he couldn’t get a grasp of the man. He wasn’t the rule-abiding kind like Dick but somehow managed to be less fun, and he was temperamental but not up to a play fight or a rousing conversation like Nix was. Most often his face was blank, a cold mask that Harry couldn’t read, and sometimes he broke into a grin that somehow made everything worse.

Most importantly, Harry couldn’t decide if the man was to be trusted or not. Harry was of the kind who would take a bullet for his friends and take their secrets to the grave, but as much as Speirs was now a part of their group, Harry couldn’t tell if he would follow his lead on that one.

The thing was, Harry wasn’t sure if Nix and Dick knew that he knew. They certainly hadn’t talked about it, but there was a relaxed energy between the three of them, and Harry could sense an unspoken agreement they had all somehow formed. He didn’t make comments or tease them about women, and Nix and Dick sat very close to each other, sometimes with their arms resting on a backrest of a couch or a chair behind the other’s back, and all was well.

When Speirs joined them, Harry had to put a stop to that. He wasn’t sure his friends were as careful as they should have been, and they certainly couldn’t talk about it either, so Harry found himself feigning off many close calls by jamming himself between Nix and Dick and loudly interrupting their word games when they threatened to take a flirtatious tone. Nix and Dick both gave him weird looks about it, but again, unspoken agreement, and Harry was busy staring down Speirs to really pay attention. 

_I dare you to try and hurt them_ , Harry said with his stare, but all he got back was one of those blank stares.

The legacy of Bill Guarnere lived on, and even if Martin approved of Speirs as their new commander and respected him as a combat leader, he couldn’t ignore the stories about him killing one of his own. Martin wasn’t so gullible as to believe every piece of gossip that came his way, but this one was just plausible enough to be a reason for concern.

“Take care of Babe for me, will ya?” had been one of the last things Bill had said to Martin before he was evacuated for good. “Keep him out of trouble he can’t handle.”

In Martin’s opinion Bill babied his best buddy way too much, but he had to admit that Speirs was trouble barely anyone could handle, let alone a chipper red-headed Philly boy who talked way too much and wore his heart on his sleeve. 

Martin didn’t know what to do about it. His position didn’t hold much influence and he couldn’t exactly keep the sharp gaze of their new C.O. off one of the loudest soldiers of the company, but he could put himself between them. He tried to think what Bill had always done when Babe threatened to take things too far or give himself away with his sputtering and bright blush, but all he came up were things that were way too _Guarnere_ for him. So what Martin was left with was his own stare and herding anyone who might be Babe’s type away from him. 

After only a few weeks Martin knew he had failed. Speirs’ eyes followed Babe for far too long, and Martin just knew that he had figured him out. All he could do at that point was to cross his arms and meet the captain’s stare head on, trying to communicate that to get to the beloved charge of his friend, anyone would have to go through him first. Speirs just looked back.

After getting divorced Lipton had been strangely composed. Luz had always imagined that being abandoned like that would be an experience that stopped the world on its tracks and shattered a person, or at least hurt them for a long time. 

Lipton had shrugged it off rather easily, but Luz wrote it off as a strange form of combat stress. The man had seemed almost relieved in some way, and then entered something of a workaholic phase. When Lipton recovered from pneumonia, his mother-henning found an entirely new gear as if he was trying to make up for the few weeks he had been down. 

Luz was good with people. He loved people, and in his opinion the best thing in the army was that he got to meet all sorts of people he wouldn’t have otherwise ever crossed paths with, and Lipton was certainly one of those he was grateful for. But the man had an odd streak to him, Luz had realized when they had become close, something private and hidden that only showed itself briefly during twilight hours, and his divorce had amplified that. Luz didn’t have the energy to judge, doubted he even wanted to, but rather thought it interesting. The army really called all sorts.

But his dear mother hen of a friend didn’t look after himself much, and Speirs was the fox that had sneaked into the henhouse. 

What Luz had feared the most was that someone unkind would find out about Lipton, but that had already happened. He could tell it from Speirs’ keen, cold eyes that inspected Lipton, following him around, and Luz was discovering whole new depths of fear. What would happen now? Military police? But there was no proof. Some sort of a vigilante punishment? Would Speirs do that? He might. There was no telling what he could do.

Luz found himself staring at Speirs filled with anxiety. He didn’t know what to do, how he could help his friend or how to even warn him. Luz tried to figure out some sort of a battleplan, but all he could do was frown and stare and frown some more.

One day when Easy was loading the trucks and preparing to get on the road again, Speirs looked back. Luz jumped at the sudden eye contact but held it. Speirs’ eyes were stern and cold, and Luz couldn’t begin to tell what he was thinking.

To his surprise, Speirs seemed to sigh to himself and rolled his eyes. Luz hadn’t recovered from his confusion when Speirs turned away and gestured to someone in the crowd. Luz found out who when Lipton jogged to him like responding to his beckoning gesture was the best thing he did today.

Speirs patted the pockets of his jacket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, put one between his lips and said something to Lipton that Luz couldn’t hear. Lipton started to go through his own pockets, and after a moment fished out a lighter from the pocket of his trousers, then leaned in to give Speirs light. 

The cigarette bounced between Speirs’ lips and forced Lipton to concentrate harder as the flame wouldn’t take. Without realizing it, Lipton leaned in closer, angling his body towards Speirs and bringing his hands closer to his face.

Speirs waited while obviously teasing, then leaned closer himself and suddenly took a hold of Lipton’s hand to steady it. He let the flame kiss the tip of his cigarette far longer than was necessary, his eyes looking at Lipton instead of their hands, and Lipton looked back, a smile rising to his face. 

The moment took place right there in broad daylight in the middle of the entire company, and then it ended. Speirs let go of Lipton’s hand, Lipton took a step back, and the men regarded each other from a decent distance again.

Then someone called to Lipton, he jolted awake from whatever had entranced him, and he threw one last look at Speirs before hurrying off. Speirs took a long inhale from his cigarette, truly savoured it, then suddenly looked back at Luz who had stared at the exchange as if hypnotized. 

Speirs’ eyes were still cold, but now Luz detected something almost bored in them. Speirs lifted the cigarette to his lips again, quirked a brow and shrugged at Luz as if saying _make of that what you will._

Luz did. He sighed in relief.


End file.
